I've got a low-end digital camera that my husband bought on a whim. With it, I've taken some shots of my fast-moving children that would have been such good shots if it weren't for the blur.

The main reason I'm ready now to spend more on a digital camera (up to @ $700) is to get good print output. But, while I'm at it, I want to choose a camera that's most likely to allow me to get good shots of the can't-stand-still children I photograph.

Since reviews seldom speak specifically to this -- my question is, "What aspects of the camera's specifications impact this?"

Shutter speed perhaps?

Needless to say -- I'm a very amateur photographer. But I have for some time now enjoyed scanning, editing, cropping, and enlarging photos from our traditional cameras to get photos from our inkjet printer I consider perfectly frameable. Now I want a digital camera that will provide me with images for this purpose as well. I'm leaning towards cameras that use SmartMedia since we've already invested in a floppy adapter for SmartMedia.

-- Jan Stark (stark@fedex.com), October 29, 1999

Answers

Hi Jan....check out the Olympus 2000Z or the FujiFilm MX2900....both good

-- Chuck Haugen (chuck007@pacbell.net), October 29, 1999.

Jan, You're right about shutter speed being the critical element. The trick is to control the shutter speed so that you freeze the action and provide enough light for a good exposure. The Olympus 2000z mentioned above has shutter priority mode so you can set the speed to freeze the action. It will warn you if you don't have enough light. With a automatic shutter/aperture camera, the camera makes the decision and you need to be sure their is plenty of light to force the camera into a fast shutter speed. You should also look at the lens aperture range. A fast 2.8 lens will allow faster shutter speeds than a 3.5 for example. On a zoom lens you usually get larger apertures on the wide angle settings so you may want to limit telephoto use if the light is low. Telephoto will also increase blur from camera movement (as you try to keep the kids in the viewfinder). Lastly, a camera with variable ISO settings lets you increase the "speed" of the sensor (like using faster film) to allow faster shutter speeds. As mentioned before, the 2000Z and others provide the shutter control, fast lens and variable ISO speed settings to minimize your blur problem.

-- Dennis Pereira (dpereira@ultranet.com), October 29, 1999.

The fuji 2900 might be a bad choice because of the slow focus (see review this site).

This is actually a tough and really good question, I think. Let's pretend I know what I'm talking about for a minute.

One thing that causes blur is camera shake, lots of people underestimate how much of the lack of sharpness is caused by their own shake. You can't often use a tripod for spontaneous shots of rambunctious kids, but maybe you could brace yourself against a wall and focus on steadying the hands as you press the shutter. There's also the pro and con of shooting close vs far, harder to control camera shake with more zoom, but kids move laterally relatively less that far away.

If your kids' dad is a hummingbird, increasing the shutter speed might help. On a lot of cameras like the 505 you have to navigate through a menu mess to do this, by which time your kids have already fled the scene. Most cameras can't even adjust it at all. I think the Oly 2000 might have this on a dial on top.

The "speed" of a lens can make a difference, some of the lenses let in twice as much light as others, thus using twice the shutter speed for the same exposure. Similarly, using a flash could let you use faster shutter speed.

The big problem with lots of digital cameras is the delay between when you push the shutter and when the shot is actually taken. Sometimes the delay is obnoxiously long. Part of that is how long it takes to autofocus, autoexpose, and generic Shutter Lag(TM).

Check out: See http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/PSS10/PC/pss10_pc01-e.html#4 Note that the S-10 is better than most of the competition, but these times are pretty depressing compared to SLRs. It's even worse when you try to take multiple shots in a row, then I hope your camera has a decent buffer and processor. When you take shots at the highest res, it's the worst.

So you click the instant your kid punches his sister, but instead you get a shot of his sister kicking him back where it counts. Maybe a better shot, but not what you intended. Then you can't take subsequent pics of brother doubling over as fast as you like.

So try a tripod, flash, get a camera with: faster lens, faster focus, less shutter lag, better buffer & processor. I think someone compared shutter lag between cameras, somewhere.

-- benoit (foo@bar.com), October 29, 1999.

Higher shutter speed is always a help when it comes to blur do to motion. Something that can help if your are unable to get a shutter speed high enough is to follow the subject with the camera as you shoot. The background will be blurry but the subject will be clearer. Also this is best achieved with an optical viewfinder. Motion on an LCD viewfinder, whether it be your motion or the subjects, is harder to notice than the optical viewfinder. When it comes to the shutter lag of many digital camera all I can say is practice, practice, practice. Get to know your camera and learn to antisipate the shot and press the shutter a little earlier. If you want a shot of someone catching a football press the shutter while the ball is still in the air a few feet from the person. I know this doesn't replace having the shutter fire the instant you press the shutter release, but it helps.

-- Bob G. (rgreg88721@hotmail.com), November 02, 1999.